Toy Review: D23 Exclusive Small Fry Buzz Lightyear

Hey, remember that wonderful little Toy Story short film called Small Fry that played in front of The Muppets back in 2011?  The one where a kids meal toy version of Buzz Lightyear pulls a switch-a-roo with the real Buzz and hilarity ensues?  If not, or if it's just been a while, you can check it out here:


Toy Story Toons - Small Fry on Disney Video

That was fun, wasn't it?  Well this year at the D23 Expo, which just concluded this past weekend, Mattel offered up an exclusive figure of the Buzz Lightyear Fun Meal toy just like the one seen in Small Fry!  Though I was unable to attend the expo myself, I managed to get my hands on one of the Small Fry Buzz toys and he's pretty darn cool!  Let's check him out in detail:

Packaging:

This is one toy where the packaging is just as much a part of the toy as the actual figure itself.  Buzz comes tucked away inside a whopping three different packages, and they're all quite detailed.  First, the whole thing comes in what looks like a Poultry Palace take-out box, complete with delightfully disgusting looking grease stains.  Inside you'll find another box, which looks just like the Fun Meal packaging seen in the short film.  It even has a word find puzzle and a maze you can solve on each side of it!  Very clever.

Finally, Buzz himself is inside a little plastic display box that recalls how kids meal toys are often displayed in fast food restaurants.  It even has little cardboard cutouts of some Poultry Palace food that serve as a nice backdrop for Buzz.  The attention to detail here really is outstanding.  The only downside?  There's no way to get Buzz out of the display box without destroying it, so you either have to leave him in there forever, or bust him out and lose his nice little display box.  There's no middle ground between playing with him and displaying him here.  It's one or the other.

Sculpt & Paint Application:
Once you finally manged to get Buzz out of his many boxes and have a look at him, he's quite impressive!  Since he's meant to be a kids meal toy, he's not overly detailed, which means that Mattel was easily able to make sure that everything about him looks exactly right.

Of course, since he's sealed up inside his little display box, I can't check if he has any articulation.  I am also unable to check if his feet have wheels on them, as they do in the short film.  However, I can say that he couldn't possibly look any more accurate than he does.  Heck, he actually looks better than the source material, since the toy in the short film is meant to look cheap.  Being a relatively simple character, Mattel was really able to pull out all the stops with this little guy!

Mini Buzz is five inches tall.  On his own, he actually seems kind of large, since five inches is pretty big for a kids meal toy.  That said, when compared to other accurately sized Toy Story characters, he's perfectly in scale with them, just like how he appears in Small Fry.  And, since he's in a nice little display box, you don't have to worry about him getting dusty!  Big Buzz there could use a cleaning soon...

Overall:

If you're a Toy Story fan and you really enjoyed Small Fry, you'll love this little Buzz guy!  The figure is impressive on his own, but it's the amazingly detailed packaging that surrounds him that really propels him to the next level.  It's a shame there's no way to get him out of his display box without dismantling it, but if you aren't planning to play with him, that's not really an issue anyhow.  If you want a unique and fun piece for your Toy Story collection, head to eBay and snatch one of these little guys up while you can!  For what he is, he's pretty much perfect.

Okay, Disney.  Now bring on the rest of the abandoned Fun Meal toys!  I want to get myself a Lizard Wizard.